While UN Agencies and Governments protest, and Gene Giants
morph and maneuver, work on Terminator and Traitor Technologies
goes full speed ahead. Genetic trait control technology is already
being tested in the field. Can commercialization be far behind?

"We've continued right on with work on the Technology
Protection System [Terminator]. We never really slowed down. We're
on target, moving ahead to commercialize it. We never really backed
off." - Harry Collins, Delta & Pine Land Seed Co., January,
2000 (1)

A report released today by the Rural Advancement Foundation
International (RAFI) reveals that Terminator and Traitor technology
are riding a fast track to commercialization. Entitled "Suicide
Seeds on the Fast Track," the new RAFI Communique is available
on RAFI's website: http://www.rafi.org

Terminator technology, the genetic engineering of plants to
produce sterile seeds, is universally considered the most morally
offensive application of agricultural biotechnology, because over
1.4 billion people depend on farm-saved seeds. Traitor technology,
also known as genetic use restriction technology (GURTs), refers
to the use of an external chemical to switch on or off a plant's
genetic traits.

"After Monsanto and AstraZeneca publicly vowed not to
commercialize suicide seeds in 1999, governments and civil society
organizations were lulled into thinking that the crisis had passed.
Nothing could be further from the truth," said RAFI's Executive
Director Pat Mooney. "Despite mounting opposition from national
governments and United Nations' agencies, research on Terminator
and Traitor (genetic trait control) is moving full speed ahead,"
adds Mooney.

"Delta & Pine Land, the world's largest cotton seed
company, hasn't skipped a beat - the company is moving aggressively
to commercialize Terminator," said Hope Shand, RAFI's Research
Director. "And despite massive protests, the US Department
of Agriculture supports and defends its anti-farmer patent and
research on suicide seeds. Last year, AstraZeneca conducted field
trials on genetic trait control technology (Traitor technology)
in the UK. According to industry sources, it is not the first
company to conduct field tests of this kind. Can commercialization
of Terminator/Traitor technology be far behind?" asks Shand.

RAFI's report concludes that corporate commitments to disavow
Terminator are virtually meaningless in light of the eye-popping
pace of corporate takeovers. Monsanto and AstraZeneca have each
merged with other companies since they pledged not to commercialize
suicide seeds.

® On December 2, 1999 Novartis and AstraZeneca announced
they would spin-off and merge their agrochemical and seed divisions
to create the world's biggest agribusiness corporation - to be
named "Syngenta."

® On December 19, 1999 Monsanto announced that it will
merge with drug industry giant Pharmacia & Upjohn to create
a new company, named Pharmacia, with combined annual sales of
$17 billion.

Who Has the Guts to Fight GURTs? The Director General of the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Jacques
Diouf recently declared his opposition to Terminator. In publicly
rejecting Terminator, FAO's Diouf has come to the defense of the
1.4 billion people who depend upon farm-saved seed for their survival.

Among the national governments that have announced their intention
to oppose Terminator technology are Panama, India, Ghana, and
Uganda. India, one of the first governments to publicly reject
Terminator, explicitly prohibits Terminator genes in a draft bill
now before the Indian Parliament. Ghanaian Minister of Environment,
Cletus Avoka, says that his government will not tolerate the use
of Terminator technology. Panama's Minister of Agriculture and
Fisheries writes that his government "will adopt measures
to prohibit the specific patents as well as the technology in
general." Ugandan officials have said that their government
is discussing measures to outlaw Terminator at the highest levels
of government.

"We can't depend on the good will of corporations to prevent
Terminator seeds from becoming a commercial reality," says
RAFI's Silvia Ribeiro. "Without government action to ban
Terminator and Traitor, these technologies will be commercialized,
with disastrous consequences for farmers, food security and biodiversity,
" adds Ribeiro.

Terminator and Traitor technologies are not limited to a single
patent, nor is the research confined to one or two companies.
Delta & Pine Land is currently the high-profile crusader for
Terminator, but the goal of genetic trait control is industry-wide.
According to RAFI, over 30 patents are collectively held by the
Gene Giants - the multinational agrochemical firms that dominate
the field of biotechnology.

According to RAFI, the future of Terminator/Traitor Technology
rests with national governments and multinational corporations.
The pressure points for political action are, first and foremost,
with national governments around the world. Second, pressure should
be applied at key international fora such as through the BioSafety
Protocol at the Convention on Biological Diversity, and intellectual
property negotiations at the World Trade Organization. The frightening
specter of "agroterrorism" makes the issue of genetic
trait control a critical issue for negotiators in Geneva who are
working to strengthen the 1972 Convention on Biological and Toxin
Weapons. If political initiatives can be taken in these fora -
as well as at the FAO and at the upcoming Global Forum on Agricultural
Resesarch in Dresden (May 21-23, 2000), both the corporations
and the US Government will have to retreat.